Three weeks after a near-miss with a Boeing 737-9 Max, aircraft of the type are again carrying passengers in the USA. Alaska Airlines – the airline whose 737-9 Max lost a part of its fuselage in flight – was the first to fly an inspected aircraft between Seattle and San Diego.
Top manager Constance von Muehlen, who is responsible for operational business, was also on board. She told US broadcaster CBS that she didn’t want to ask passengers to do anything that she wouldn’t do herself. Alaska said it was prepared to rebook customers who did not want to board a plane of this type on other aircraft.
The incident ended lightly
On January 5th, shortly after takeoff, a part of the fuselage broke off during climb on a virtually new 737-9 Max from Alaska with more than 170 people on board. Instead, some configurations of the more seat type have a door. The affected variant of the 737-9 Max instead has a cover that closes the opening. No one was seriously injured in the incident – however, by a lucky coincidence, the two seats directly at the opening remained empty. Alaska manager von Muehlen was in the cover row for the first flight, CBS reported.
Alaska Airlines added two more 737-9 Max to its flight schedule on Friday and plans to inspect all of its 65 aircraft of the type by the end of January. The fasteners should then be inspected every two years. Competitor United Airlines has been using inspected aircraft of this type again since Saturday.
After the incident, the FAA and other authorities ordered all approximately 170 similar aircraft of the type to be grounded for investigations. Alaska and United Airlines also found loose fasteners in the area on other planes. A few days ago, the FAA released the procedure for inspections after which the aircraft can take off again. The checks take up to twelve hours per machine. No aircraft of the affected model are in use by EU airlines.
